Electric Mangata
Her body was restless, knee bouncing up and down as she leaned forward in her chair to hover over her mahogany desk. Her eyes were mindlessly scanning over the organized stack of papers in an effort to get ahead on the variety of financial reports that seem to flood her mailbox daily. Running the largest guild in the country was no easy task; sure she had help from a few of her members in keeping up with the day-to-day stuff, but when it came down to reports from the Magic Council, the Toveri Alliance, and even those sent out by the Magic Academy they had founded, in can get a bit overwhelming. She had spent the last four days cooped up in her office tackling the large stack of bills and reports that come with the year’s quarter end, and she had somehow managed to make it through about ninety percent of all the data and documents she had to acquire and submit to the council in the following week. But her mind was fried and her body was aching to get out of her plush chair and get active. Koma Inu can wait for a bit, I need to get out of this building and get some fresh air. Perhaps I will go see if anyone happens to be training in the grassy area in the back. ''Samarra thought to herself as she stood up to stretch her tired legs. Making her way through to open door of her office she found herself winding through the bookcases of the guild’s underground library towards the stairs that would ascend her to the ground floor and her salvation. Her muscles were a bit tight as she mae her way up the steps, but her worries and pains seemed to drop as she was met with the lively sound of cheerful voices conversing in the guild’s main lounge area. She waved to some of her guild members who cast a warming smile her way, then turned to make her way out the back door into the expansive meadow in which Koma Inu has claimed as its own sort of training area. The sun tickled her skin and the slight breezed seemed to carry in a new breath of life for Samarra as she stepped out into the field. She glanced around the area and spotted one of her members sprinting straight for her. Luna had spent the day walking around outside thinking and contemplating where life would be taking her. As she emerged out of the woods and into the training area, she saw Samarra standing there soaking in the sun. ''Maybe this is my chance to finally get to know Samarra. She began running towards her quacking noticing that she had run into the middle of other members training. "Oh geez! Ahh!" She yelled as she dodged her members and tried to get out of the way but only managing to get herself more in the way. Finally she managed to find her way out of the way and stumbled over to Samarra just barely catching herself from tripping over the Guild Master. With a beat red face she began to try to form words and ask if there was any way for her to help with training. Being as Luna is super shy and winded from running around it became close to impossible to form any sort of understandable sentence. "I.. I mean, today? Busy? Train? Maybe?" She said gasping for air between each word. Samarra giggled a bit as she grabbed hold of the girl's forearms in an effort to stabilize her in her sudden deceleration. She recognized the girl's vibrant green hair and golden eyes, a soft face that she has seen traversing through the guild halls many a times. "It's Luna, right? You okay there?" Samarra asks with sincerity as the girl catches her breath. Piecing together what she said Samarra realizes that Luna is asking her to train with her, and Samarra is thankful the opportunity to stretch her limbs and get to know more of her family. With a joyous smile and gleeful tone she replies, "Sure I would love to train with you! What would you like to do? Spar? Exercises?" Surprised by Samarra's quick response and willingness, Luna suddenly became quite nervous for she wasn't nearly as strong as any of the other members. "Spar? I mean, I'm not all that great at using any of my forms of magic." She said as she fidgeted around with her hair and looked down at the grass. "Not to mention I don't have full control of someone of my magic yet. Maybe you'd be up to train me a bit? I know our magic isn't the same but you have much more knowledge of conserving energy and stuff like that..." She quickly stopped noticing the rambling mess she had become. Glancing up at Samarra, Luna gave an apologetic smile and stood in silence as she gave the Guild Master a chance to collect her thoughts. Samarra found the girls nervousness a bit endearing, and the fact that she was doubting her abilities already made her a bit sad that she had no faith. Samarra could tell that the girl's ethernano was fluctuating widely, showing that she had some truth to her statements. Samarra contemplates what to say and starts so by pointing to the guild mark on her left arm with a smile. "You see this," she starts, "you have one too right? That means that you are part of something great. Something that gives you the strength of a hundred mages. Showing that you have a family to back you up when things get rough. So don't ever think that you are weak." She thinks over ways she could help Luna train and falls back to what her parent's had her practice day and night to help strengthen her own control over the flow of her ethernano. She figures it would be a nice exercise for her to pass on and would be an enjoyable way to spend her break from the mundane. "Well would you like to work on your ethernano manipulation first? It would be good to start with that to cut down on the wasted magic you're currently exuding, then we could try and see what your magic is like to help work on that. Yeah?" Luna's eyes lit up as she couldn't contain her happiness. "Anything you want to teach, I'll listen and learn and practice" she stopped herself before she began sounding over obsessive. "I mean I'm willing to learn and out in effort." She collected herself and chose less childish words trying to hide the excitement that surged through her body. Samarra was happy for the girls energy and excitement, but she hoped that it would settle down once they begun, for controlling your ethernano required a great deal of focus before it can become second nature. Samarra looks around for a nice spot to sit down to allow them to practice and she spots a shaded grassy area by an oak tree nearby. She motions for Luna to follow her as they go and sit under the tree to face one another. Crossing her legs and getting comfortable, Samarra does her best to recall the teaching of her father so that she can fluently pass on what she knows. “Ok, so I am assuming you at least know the basics of how ethernano flows through our body; its energy being contained in a unique network similar to our bloodstream with its origin located here.” She starts, putting a fist on the center of her chest. “Our bodies are naturally exuding our ethernano into what is known as a “resting aura”, to a mage just starting out this resting aura is susceptible to changes in our emotions and will grow or weaken depending on how we feel. But we have the ability to train and control this to help conserve this magic so that it is not wasted on such emotions and can be saved for when we really need to use it. The most basic way to do this is through daily mediation until our body becomes used to sustaining this state without conscious thought; kind of like how we don’t think about breathing.” Samarra closed her eyes for a moment as a light blue energy seemed to form around her, the opaque construct extending out only a few inches from her body. Opening her eyes back open she smiles at the girl before her, “The best way to understand how this meditation affects your aura is allow yourself to ignite it, per say, and focus on controlling it with a visual representation. You see, our aura is easily manipulated through our own thoughts, and once we become in tune with the energy that flows through us we can force it to be contained within our body or even shape it into its own ethereal constructs. “ She then allows her aura to withdrawal into her body and forms it into an orb of similar consistency floating in her hand to give an example of what she had said. “So first we will start by igniting your aura so you can see it. Close your eyes and focus on the sensation and feeling of your magic flowing through your skin. Start with your center and follow the path of this energy throughout your body as it expands and reaches the furthest tips of your fingers, of your toes, and to the crown of your head. Now imagine as if your are pushing that energy out through your pores, having it radiate off your skin like steam, concentrate on letting this energy flow passively out your pores as you continue to circulate it. Once you feel you can do this, open your eyes. ” Samarra waits a moment as she watches the girl’s ethernano begin leaking out in what she perceives as a light emerald color, she continues to wait until the girl opens her eyes Luna watched Samarra as she spoke and explained everything. As she listened carefully she took in all the pointers and how to concentrate. It finally came time for Luna to try it out. "Okay" she said as she exhaled softly. She sat up straight placing her hands on her knees and taking deep breaths as she closed her eyes and relieved her mind of all thoughts clouding her concentration. As she focused on Samarra's words she could feel her ethernano exuding her body from every pore. After a couple of moments it became too much for Luna causing her to begin hyperventilating and leading her to open her eyes abruptly. It took a few moments for Luna to realize where she was and get back to a present state of mind. As her eyes wondered rapidly she fell back and looked up into the sky allowing her breath to calm down. It took a few minutes for Luna to finally calm down and as she sat back up she looked at Samarra disappointed "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. But I can try again." She said in a soft winded voice. Strange...very strange...Is she a take over mage? Could that be the cause of such fluctuations... Samarra thought to herself as she watched the girl calming down. She smiled softly, showing admiration for the girl's first attempt. "No need to apologize, that was a good first try. You need to calm down a bit; focus on the process, not the end result. Ethernano Manipulation is all about control throughout the process. Try this time to imagine each pore on your body, not as an open gate, but as a needle point hole that your magic slowly flows through. Alright? And just keep calm, don't worry so much." She said with a slight tilt of her head and a smile. Taking one final deep breath Luna began to relax her body as she began to take herself into a limbo state of meditation. Already feeling her body giving up Luna pushed through. It had seemed that all the energy exuded in that one moment of panic had left her at an almost drained point. Keeping her mind cleared she focused only on what Samarra had explained, allowing each once of her remaining Ethernano to seep through her pores. Her tattoos behind to glow in all different colors as she kept herself In such a meditations like state of mind. Samarra smiled at the girls improvement, watching her emerald aura surround her body in a much more calm and controlled manner. Samarra spoke softly to convey her next instructions, so as to only mildly distract Luna and her meditative state. "That's wonderful Luna. The more you practice activating and controlling the growth of your aura the easily it will become to regulate the amount of magic you use for each spell. Now we are going to try basic static manipulation." Samarra said, watching the girl's energy closely to ensure she is still fully focused. "What I want you to imagine now is doing the reverse of what you just did. I want you to close off all release of your ethernano except for that of your dominant hand. Once you feel you have done that, I want you to open your eyes and we will do the exercise together." Keeping her state of mediation high, Samarra's words faintly entered her mind registering slowly. This way keeping for being too distracting or overpowering as to disrupt her meditation state. Slowly she nodded her head in an understanding manner. As she began reversing what she had just been taught, her concentration moved towards pulling back the ethernano back in. Suddenly a loud thumping sound came from some of the other members training around her causing Luna to loose all concentration. Before being able to place her mind back into reality her eyes were opened leaving her in a state of being awake but her mind was unaware of where she was. She was left at a point of now allowing her mind to catch up with her body's actions. Luna stared at Samarra in silence with no emotion or light in her eyes. Samarra saw her blank expression and knew something had happened to disrupt her meditation to put her in almost a catatonic state. Samarra leaned forward to place her hands on the sides of her arms, like she had done once before, and gently shook the girl back and forth. "Luna, come back. You went too deep, come back to me now." Samarra is relieved to see some movement and a consciousness return as the girls mind seems to return back to her body. "Take a moment to breath here...Well I am surprised you were able to achieve such a deep meditation that you experienced a disconnect; but for battle purposes you obviously can't lose yourself like that, so you need to maintain some form of consciousness and awareness of your surroundings this next try, ok?" For a few moments Luna fell into a state of limbo where her body reacted quicker then her mind. She was unaware of anything going on as she began to internally panic. Finally after a few good shakes from Samarra, she re awoke as a whole. Fear took over her body as her body began to shake in only a matter noticeable to Luna. The feeling of hyperventilation began to peak, but to keep herself from having another episode Luna was quickly able to calm it by countering it with deep breaths. Her eyes had a soft gloss of forming tears and the fear of what just occurred was still very present. It took quite a while before Luna was finally able to speak. " it scared me..." Were the only three words to leave her mouth. She looked down at the grass swirling it with her fingers. "It's okay, you're back now." Samarra said softly, her eyebrows shifting to a friendly concern at the girls fragile emotional state. It's no wonder that the girl is always tired out quickly during fights, for her emotional fluctuations surely take away from the containment of her magic during just normal day to day activities. With a deep breath Samarra did her best to remain calm and supportive during this training exercise. "Well Luna, there is no need to be afraid, you are obviously in a safe environment, and I'm right here to make sure nothing bad happens to you." She said with a wink and slight giggle. "But like I said before, for battle purposes you obviously can't lose yourself like that, so you need to maintain some form of consciousness and awareness of your surroundings. Do you want to try again? Or do you want to revisit it another day? I'm willing to go at whatever pace is best for you, ok?" Hesitantly Luna agreed to give it one more try. "Alright, I'll try again" she said anxiously as she took a moment to calm herself. Closing her eyes once again Luna began to seep into a soft meditation, the time keeping her mind partially aware of the surrounding sounds and movement. Taking a deep breath her body relaxed as a faint amount of ethernano appeared to seep through her pours. Due to all the energy she had already expelled in the trys prior, her ethernano was faint but still visible. Keeping a partially conscious mind she then began to pull back the ethernano back in. As the last bit of ethernano returned to her body she awoke peacefully, slowly opening her eyes. Samarra smiled widely, "That was lovely! If you continue to practice that you won't find it as troublesome to control your expenditures during battle." Samarra says thinking back to the fact that she still isn't quite sure what the girls magic is or how it can be better controlled during spell casting. "Speaking of Luna, what is the magic you practice? Do you find it tiresome to cast spells when you're in battle? I'm sorry for the barrage of questions, I am just trying to figure out how to better adjust your ethernano manipulation training to better suit your combat style. Perhaps we could have a spar when you're up for it?" "Well, you see. I use Take Over magic, and I find it pretty difficult at times to stay in full form due to the fact that I don't have full control of some." She began to hesitate at the idea of a spar, not having full control made her fear the danger she would place Samarra, herself and other around them at. "My Take Over, thus far, are not pretty and nice. Actually they are on the more terrifying horror side of things." She stopped briefly to allow things to sink in before continuing," When you come from a not so pretty past, you don't encounter many good souls." Samarra brings her finger to her lip as she nods her head in response. Just as I suspected...explains why her ethernano was so wild. Samarra thinks as she gives a soft smile to the girl. "Well that makes sense why you were having trouble during our exercise, you have another soul in there trying to take control and be the maestro in your orchestra." She gives a laugh at her comparison. "You see even though you have a orchestra of different instruments at your command, you are still the leader. In order to be the best maestro you can be, you have to make sure you know the songs well enough to control the sound your band produces. The way you do that is through practice." She states, alluding to the method of control Luna could employ to control the Take Over souls in her body. "I highly encourage you to keep trying this exercise with your own ethernano until you can do it kinetically; then you can move on to trying it while in your Take Overs. Once you have mastered control of your own energy, you can use that strength to help control the energy from your other souls. Make sense?"